Mobile, i.e. portable devices, for example mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras, portable gaming devices, music players or laptop computers, are conveniences increasingly used in daily life. In recent years, the functionality of such mobile devices increased by incorporating a plurality of different functions. For example, modern mobile phones often have digital cameras, organizer functions, music player functions, radio functions and/or gaming functions integrated.
Mobile devices like the ones above sometimes have illumination devices integrated therein to illuminate parts of the mobile device. For example, keypads of mobile phones often may be illuminated to enable a user to operate the mobile phone under poor lighting conditions or even in darkness. Conventionally, for such an illumination a light source, for example a light emitting diode, may be provided below each key of the keypad, or a larger light source may be provided for all keys of the keypad. In this case, for example electrostatic discharge by a user handling the mobile device may adversely affect or even destroy the functionality of such light sources.